Visa 457 Agents Ask Us How? – Benchmark Training Helpline

Posted on Friday, May 10th, 2013 at 11:58 am.

At the Visa Training Helpline we often find agents need clarification on the following points when calculating their Training benchmarks A and B while applying to become sponsors of a Visa 457 applicant.

A. Payroll expenditure includes any wages, remuneration, salary, commission, bonuses, allowances, superannuation contributions (mandatory or otherwise) or eligible termination payments that are defined as wages in the Act, relating to payroll tax in the relevant State or Territory.

Q. What period of wages do I require for the payroll total calculation?

A. Payroll total is the amount of money an employer pays in wages in the 12 months prior to application lodgement.

Q. Which staff are included for salary calculation?

A. All employee salaries are included in the salary calculations.

Q. I am a new business, and don’t have wages – what can I do?

A. Applicants who have been trading in New Zealand for less than 12 months can submit a business plan demonstrating the expected salaries and staffing for a complete 12 month period, along with an auditable training plan to meet either of the training benchmarks.

Pdtraining delivers 1000’s of professional development courses each year in Wellington, Auckland, Napier, Christchurch, Hamilton, Dunedin and Tauranga, so you can be assured your training will be delivered by a qualified and experienced trainer.

Customised courses are available upon request so please contact pdtraining on 1300 121 400 to learn more.